Fast Wash Doesn't Complete

[Monkfish]

Hi, I've just bought a new Hotpoint Experience WMEF742 washing machine. When I use the fast wash 60min setting the wash doesn't finish with a spin and so leaves me with soaking wet clothes. The countdown timer on this setting seems to loose track of where it is.

Hotpoint say that I should call out an engineer, but I don't want some engineer ripping my washing machine out only to find that a replacement part does exactly the same thing because this is a design flaw in the controller. Has anyone else with this machine or it's predecessor the Aquarius had similar trouble with the 60min fast/quick wash setting?

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

It's worth just making sure it isn't anything to do with out of balance protection which can be too sensitive on some machines causing them to refuse to do the final spin. It can also cause them to seemingly get stuck on the timer as they keep trying to balance the load. It may well be nothing to do with it but worth checking just in case -

http://www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/washing-machine-wont-spin-just-one-item-or-very-small-loads/

[Monkfish]

Thanks for that nugget of information as it may come in handy in the future. However I'm quite sure that this is not the issue in this instance. It seems to come up with "End" after a rinse cycle and before it attempts the wringing cycle, which is why the clothes are soaking wet. I'm not sure it even fully completes the pump out, because it normally pumps, then does some wringing cycles at increasing speeds whilst pumping out. I think it does the initial pumping, but not the wringing and certainly not the full spin. The timer counts down from 60 to 25 then skips to 15 then counts down to 1 minute, then jumps back up to 7 minutes and then to "End" one minute later. The door is released and the clothes are dripping wet. It has done this same thing all three times since the machine was installed. The other program I use seems to work fine. I haven't tested all the programmes yet.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Agreed, it sounds like something's definitely wrong. Most faults should trigger an error code and if ours has an LED-type display it ought to bring one up (eg. F11 or E30). If it isn't there's clearly a fault but it could be something simple like a connection fault.

[Monkfish]

Is there a place that lists known manufacturing faults?

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

No, only safety related faults. I have a section here where I list all the Safety notices for appliances but if it's just a design fault manufacturers keep that to themselves. The only way to find anything is if there's a lot of anecdotal evidence in forums etc but even finding dozens of people with the same fault doesn't necessarily prove something is a design fault as it could be a few dozen reports from millions sold.

[Monkfish]

Oh well, looks like I'll just have to call out that engineer. Thanks for your help

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Please let us know what they find which will help others with similar symptoms.

[Monkfish]

Will do.

[Monkfish]

I found someone else with the same problem (read Kathy's feedback on the Which website below).

http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/laundry-and-cleaning/reviews/washing-machines/hotpoint-wmef742p-uk-/customer-views/#

Maybe I got her machine?

[Monkfish]

I booked an engineer and was warned that if he plugged in his dongle and the machine reported an overload condition then I would be charged. Does he have to move the machine to plug in his test equipment or is it accessible from the front of the machine?

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

He'll most likely need to pull the machine out and take off the top and or back panel. If he says it's an overload condition which you are responsible for then tell him you need to see it spin OK by putting a load of laundry into the machine. Provide him with laundry and ask him to put a load in which he deems is a proper load and then let him show you that when loaded correctly it spins OK.

[Monkfish]

Thanks for the advice. I fully understand what you mean. I trust these repair services about as far as I can throw my machine.

I tested my machine under no-load conditions to eliminate overload and unbalance issues and the fault occurred exactly the same. I timed the whole program from start to finish. Basically the timer drops 11 minutes at the start of the rinse cycle and this confuses the machine toward to end of the program. There is no reason for it dropping those 11 minutes that I can see. If the inlet water was warm and it took less time to heat up I could understand the adjustment, but my inlet water temperate is freezing cold. I don't know if the control unit has firmware that can be flashed, but corruption of the data would be my guess as other programs seem to work fine.

[Monkfish]

I have now had the engineer round to fix what is evidently a known issue. As other people with this machine are likely to have the same problem I have flagged the fault in a separate post.

http://www.washerhelp.co.uk/forums/topic/1451-experience-wmef742-gw-design-fault/